HackReprisal
by Chris Talonflight
Summary: one year after the incidwents of Hack GU, yet another network crisis threatens... And its up to a determined group of players to fix it...
1. Chapter 1

**-Entry point**

"Hey Robert!" I yelled into the phone. "Are you online?"

"About to sign into The World. Why?" My friend asked.

"Because…" I said slowly. "Remember how my dad sent me that special character for the game last week, but I hadn't bought the game?"

"Yeah, what about it?" Robert asked again. "Don't tell me… it got hacked?"

"No… I bought The World Three!" I yelled. I hung up the phone, and turned on the computer.

-Click-

I opened my Gmail account. Inside, I saw an email. I clicked it. It contained the file download.

(Do you want to download the character?)

-Click-

I clicked the download button.

(Welcome to ALTIMIT Operating System Version 5.0c)

-_Inserting disk_-

(You are about to install this following program: The World: Three)

(Proceed?) (yes/no)

-Click-

(Thank you for purchasing The World: Three. Please wait while this installation program guides you through all the necessary requirements to successfully install this game into your PC)

(Validating system requirements)…

… (System requirements check completed. Setup has verified that this PC is **more than sufficient** to play the game at its most optimum setting)

(Would you like to install this game into your PC right now?) (yes/no)

-Click-

(Please insert your validation code)

-0102j- -2345c- -1234a- -9990z- -Click-

(The World: Three will be installed in this following directory…)

(Confirm installation?) (yes/no)

-Click-

(Please wait while the installation setup installs the program into your PC)

(Setup has successfully installed The World: Three in your PC)

(To begin the game, please double click on the new The World: Three icon now available at your desktop, and follow the instructions once the program launches)

… Okay these instructions were getting annoying.

(Have fun playing the newest version of the most popular online game in history, The World!)

-Click-

-Click-

(Loading)

A particularly soothing music played itself in the background while loading process took place. It was an orchestrated music very pleasant to the ears. Violin, flute, guitar, piano… all arranged superbly and performed wonderfully, all meshing together to form the seemingly perfect harmony.

(Loading Completed)

…A beautifully rendered Planet Earth suddenly popped on the screen, along with a huge 'The World: Three' logo plastered on top of it, accompanied by a rather dramatic—but pleasing, nevertheless—music and sound effect.

A message was displayed.

(The game has detected that you are currently using the Virtual Reality Displayer SCREENER V.02, and Virtual Reality Controller V32s, all compatible with The World: Three. Please wait while the game makes all the necessary adjustments to ensure the smoothness of your hardware performance while playing the game)

(Adjustments completed)

A new set of pictures and text-boxes appeared on the screen.

(Please enter the name of your PC Playable Character. Note that this name will be used during your entire time playing The World: Three, and cannot be changed during the game. While it is entirely up to the player to choose whatever name they desire, we suggest that you do not choose an over the top or possibly offensive name for your PC)

(**C**) (**A**) (**R**) (**I**) (**S**)

(**CARIS**)

(Is this name correct?) (yes/no)

-Click-

(Please choose the gender of your character) (Male/Female)

(ATTENTION: The World: Three **does not **restrict any classes to any specific gender. For example: the player may create a male healer or a female heavy warrior if it is desirable. Please choose this just with your own personal preference)

(**MALE**)

(Is this gender correct?) (yes/no)

-Click-

(Please choose the race you want your characters be inside the game)

(HUMAN) (BEAST) (MECHANICAL) (WALKING DEAD)

(ATTENTION: The World: Three **does not **restrict any classes to any specific race. For example: the player may create a walking dead male healer or a female mechanical warrior if it is desirable. Please choose this just with your own personal preference)

(**HUMAN**)

(Is this race correct?) (yes/no)

-Click-

A new set of graphics loaded.

It was a rather captivating sight. Dozens of various character models were displayed simultaneously on the screen. All models were lavishly and sharply designed, with each sported abound creativity and uniqueness. A message was displayed.

(Please choose your character's class. Please note that the character designs featured here are all just examples—you will have the freedom to design your own character suited to your preferences once you have decided which class you are going to use, although each designs are still restricted to the limits of the class you choose)

(**WARNING! YOU CANNOT CHANGE YOUR CLASS ONCE YOU CHOOSE ONE. MAKE SURE YOU CHOOSE A CLASS THAT BEST SUITS YOUR PLAYING STYLE TO ENSURE YOUR MAXIMUM ENJOYMENT OF THIS GAME**)

(**PLEASE READ CLASSES' DESCRIPTIONS THOROUGHLY TO HELP YOU DECIDE WHICH CLASS YOU WANT TO PLAY AS IN THIS GAME**)

-Click-

(The World: Three features many of the classes available from the previous versions of the game, while also at the same time adding new, original classes to ensure you have plenty of options to choose from a total of 12 classes. Please direct your pointer to each class you wish to choose or you wish to view the descriptions of. **The World: Three has also detected a special upload class and has added it as a 13****th**** choice**.)

(**01. Twin Blades**. _Weapon of choice_: twin small blades, one on each hand. _Type_: Melee. _Strengths_: One of the most agile melee classes in the game, Twin Blades rely on their quick reflexes and blinding fast movements to launch a rapid succession of physical attacks to the enemy, leaving little to no room for the enemy to counter-attack. _Weaknesses_: mediocre defenses against both physical and magical attacks. This class is unable to equip heavy armor (only a light armor), making it especially susceptible to strong physical attacks from the enemy. Relatively unable to deal strong damages to the enemy, making it a hard class to use against enemies with especially strong defenses) (Root town: Mac Anu, Citadel)

(**2. Harvest Cleric**. _Weapon of choice_: healer staffs. _Type_: Magic/Healing. _Strengths_: The strongest healing and restoration spells available only to this class, making a Harvest Cleric a very valuable asset to have in a battle against strong enemies where things may get easily out of hands. High defense against magical attacks, making magic attacks directed to the player much less effective than they normally would do. Also able to learn very basic offensive spells. _Weaknesses_: the weakest class in term of physical defense, plus a low HP, a player choosing this class must be especially aware to the danger posed by enemies with high physical attack stat, as three or four direct blows usually enough to dispose the player. Magic chanting requirement time may also make the player especially susceptible to enemy attacks, since movement is prohibited during magic initiation process. This class is also restricted on equipping only the weakest armor level possible in the game) (Root town: Mac Anu)

(**3. Heavy Blade**. _Weapon of choice_: two handed broad-swords. _Type_: Melee. _Strengths_: One of the classes with the highest physical attack stats, this is a suitable class to choose for players wishing to deal massive and total destruction to the enemies with pure physical attacks mayhem. High HP, able to equip heavy armor and high physical defense all make this class suitable to use toe-to-toe against enemies with high physical attacks. A competent "tank"-like character—its attacks also oftentimes affect a wide area, making this class a formidable foe even if enemies outnumber your allies. _Weaknesses_: Virtually no magical defense, making this class _the_ weakest link when players facing an enemies with especially high magical attack stat. Its low magical defense also makes this class much more vulnerable to status-altering spells, which oftentimes could make even the seemingly easiest battle turn to dangerous for your party. Slow attack speed also makes this class easier to evade, and careless players may find that they are getting overwhelmed by counter attacks before they can do anything about it) (Root town: Mac Anu)

(**4. Shadow Warlock**. _Weapon of choice_: magical tomes. _Type_: Magic/Offensive. _Strengths_: This is the class with the highest magical attack stats, and many of the highest level offensive spells in this game available only exclusively to this class. Able to manipulate enemies' elemental weaknesses much easier compared to any other classes, making this class a suitable choice for various battle situations. This is also the class with the highest SP stat available in the game. _Weaknesses_: Only the very basic of healing and restoration spells available for this class, making it not suitable if the player prefers to do battles that require a lot of support to gain victory. Offensive spells are among the most costly in terms of SP to cast, making SP restoring items practically a must for this class, making it a pretty expensive character to maintain effectively. Low defense and HP, and its movement speed are amongst the lowest of all the character class in this game) (Root town: Dark Citadel, Shadow's Village)

(**5. Long Arm**. _Weapon of choice_: spears. _Type_: Melee. _Strengths_: Capable of dealing high physical attacks to enemies, while at the same time possessing a higher magical defense compared to a Heavy Blade, making this class quite a versatile choice when dealing with either physical-type or magical-type enemies. This is the only class with the 'Pierce' skill inherent inside it even without the need of equipment customizing, making a Long Arm _the_ natural bane for armor-wearing enemies. Also capable of dealing strikes in a much more rapid succession than a Heavy Blade. _Weaknesses_: this class is effective mostly in one-on-one duels, and difficult to use against multiple or many enemies at once. Also, a Long Arm is restricted only of equipping light armor for defense purposes, making this class a less survivable class compared to the Heavy Blade in an intense battle situation) (Root town: Selectable)

(**6. Flick Reaper**. _Weapon of choice_: scythes. _Type_: Melee. _Strengths_: This class is designed especially for multiple-foes combat situation, where the amounts of enemies outnumber the player or the player's party. Nearly all attack skills available for this class are area-effect skills, affecting multiple enemies at once on great range around the player. A Flick Reaper's normal attack typically encompasses a large area, capable of striking multiple enemies at one swoop. Moderate physical and magical defenses, this class is also able to equip heavy armor to ensure further survivability against enemy attacks. Special weapons for this class also can give extra abilities to this class. _Weaknesses_: the attack power of a Flick Reaper is—although higher than a Twin Blade—noticeably weaker than many of other melee-oriented classes such as Long Arms or Heavy Blades. Since nearly all skills available for this class are area-effect skills, this is not an efficient class to use in difficult one-to-one battle situations without a special weapon, such as when the player must face a game boss character. A Flick Reaper's attack speed is also the slowest of all melee-oriented classes, making the player an especially vulnerable victim of counter-attacks launched by the enemies) (Root town: selectable)

(**7. Wavemaster**. _Weapon of choice_: long rods. _Type_: Melee/Magic. _Strengths_: This is the only class available of which both melee/magical skills are available in one place, making a Wavemaster a great asset to have in many various battle situations. Capable of casting both offensive/healing magic, and also able to execute various melee skills, players can opt to either stay in the background and act as a support character or join the frenzy battle up front, as this class provides adequate versatility to cover both options. _Weaknesses_: only low to medium melee/magical skills are available to this class, while many of the high-tier and strongest skills still remain exclusive to other classes, making this class an inadequate choice for players wishing to master the highest skills available in this game. This class may also prove to be inadequate when facing enemies where the highest level of skills may otherwise change the tide of battle. This is also one of the most expensive classes to maintain and upgrade effectively) (Root town: Selectable)

(**8. Adept Rogue**. _Weapon of choice_: twin blades, broad-swords, scythes. _Type_: Melee. _Strengths_: Capable of wielding various weapons at the same time, and also—given enough time and effort—upgrading their skills into their maximum levels possible, this class is _potentially_ the strongest melee class available in this game. The most versatile class in this game, players using this class can adapt to various battle conditions, and change their tactics accordingly depending on what kind of situations may arises mid-battle. _Weaknesses_: Adept Rogue is _the_ hardest class to maintain and upgrade, and _the_ most costly too. It requires an extremely dedicated player willing to pour countless hours and efforts in order to unlock this class' full potential. This class also requires a longer time to level up due to restricted experience gain exclusive to this class only, and it is also take a considerably longer time for this class to upgrade its skill levels compared to any other melee classes. In short, this is a very difficult class to use effectively) (Root town: selectable)

(**9. Element Warrior—new class**. _Weapon of choice_: elemental knives. _Type_: Elemental Melee. _Strengths_: this is the only class able to 'fuse' elemental properties to their weapons _or_ other character weapons in his/her own party in order to maximize potential damage against enemies weak against elements. A player using Element Warrior class is able to switch the elemental properties on his/her weapons on the fly to further increase the advantages for the player, and since this class can imbue other party members' weapons with elemental properties, an Element Warrior is also an excellent support to have for other melee-oriented classes such as the Long Arms or the Heavy Blades. High-level Element Warrior is even capable of altering enemies' elemental properties, making this class also an excellent support for magic-oriented classes such as Shadow Warlocks or Wavemasters. _Weaknesses_: knives are sitting at the very bottom of melee-oriented weaponry in terms of attack power. This class is also the only melee class in this game restricted on using the weakest class of armor available in this game, which can result in an especially dangerous situation when the player must face high-leveled enemies with strong attacks. Some monsters also ignore elemental properties altogether, making an especially difficult situation for a player using this class when facing them) (Root town: Mac Anu)

(**10. Steam Gunner**. _Weapon of choice_: guns. _Type_: Ranged Melee. _Strengths_: this is the only melee-class in this game tailor-suited as a long-range attack specialist. This is a class suitable for players wishing to wreak havoc to the enemies, but without endangering themselves by jumping into the front lines where enemies may counter-attack. Possessing the longest attack range of all classes available in this game, the Steam Gunner class also the owner of the highest HIT stats on the game, making its attacks almost impossible to evade and/or to counter. _Weaknesses_: a Steam Gunner's attack speed varies depending on the gun used, and coupled with the fact that guns must be reloaded at certain intervals, a Steam Gunner is not the most effective class to choose should the player wishes to play solo in this game, since even the shortest delay can give the enemies a chance to shorten their distance to the player. Steam Gunner possesses no close-ranged skills without purchased items, so a close-ranged battle situation is a very dangerous thing for a Steam Gunner to encounter) (Root town: Cardinal City)

(**11. Assassin—new class**. _Weapon of choice_: claws, shurikens, hidden blades. _Type_: Melee/Support. _Strengths_: A player using an Assassin class is not to be underestimated under any circumstances. This is the only melee class in this game able to attach various powerful debilitating negative status effects on his/her own weapon, effectively making an Assassin a foe to be reckoned with. While other classes may also obtain a negative status effect equipped to their weapons by means of equipment customizations, the successful rate of the various status effects infliction to the enemy is exponentially amplified when the player is using this class, and moreover, their effects are also doubled, and the amount of time the statuses persist is tripled the normal time. One of the most useful status effects: 'Helpless', which render the enemies inability to cure _all_ negative status effects inflicted on them during the period of a battle, is exclusive to this class only, provided the player has reached the sufficient level required to obtain it. _Weaknesses_: while the effect and the period which the negative status effects lingers when they are inflicted by Assassin are amplified, they are still incapable of bypassing status immunities, whether it is inherent in the monsters or by the means of equipments. Claws are also not an efficient weapon for attacking in their own right: they have a low attack power, despite high attack speed, but the strongest level claws are still very weak compared to, for example, the strongest twin blades weapon. Hidden Blades operate well, but have a slow attack speed. Shurikens are limited to long range. Much of this class' skills also require a lot of SP to activate, and since an Assassin is a melee class with typically low SP stats, this may also cause various serious problems for the player during a prolonged battle against strong enemies) (Root town: Selectable)

(**12. Engineer—new class**. _Weapon of choice_: explosives, bombs, mines. _Type_: Special. _Strengths_: A player using this class attacks by throwing a myriad of explosives and bombs to the enemies, which will explode immediately upon impact, damaging the enemies and everything around them, suitable against enemies with large numbers. Engineer is the only class in this game able to plant traps on the ground, which will explode upon detection. Damages done by an Engineer ignore both physical and magical defenses, so this class is especially useful to be used against foes with exceptional stats on those areas. _Weaknesses_: damages by explosives, bombs, and mines are not calculated through the player's stat, but by the stat of the weapons themselves. An engineer with a 999 attack stat will cause the same damage with an engineer with a 1 attack stat, provided they both use the same exact weapon. Thus, equipment customizations are the only possible way for an Engineer to increase his/her damage potential to the enemies. It is not advisable for those who do not wish to spend a great deal of time customizing their equipment to choose this class when playing this game) (Root town: Cardinal City)

(**13. Demon Prince—UNIQUE GIFT** _Weapon of choice_: special weapons only. _Type_: Melee. _Strengths_: this is one of the most unique classes available in this game, and players seeking more challenge when playing this game are advised to choose this class. This class has been styled for the future ruling of the Dark Lands. Their attack speed is relatively high and special weapons always do relatively high damage. As an addition, you have a Demon-State which can be entered, during which your only weapon is a Daggertail chain. During Demon-State, all your stats are temporarily upped several levels, including HP, and you are immune to all status ailments. Stat boosts when party contains dark-magic users. _Weaknesses_: This class is unable to equip heavy armor (only a light armor), giving it mediocre defense. It is weak against light-based spells. Also, in Demon-State it cannot use _any _items, spells or healing, and is limited to melee. It does not gain experience by battling except for defeating boss monsters and/or players more then five level's above its level. Instead, experience is gained slowly over time regardless of activity, although experience is also gained by collecting rare items. Also, armor and additional items can only be purchased in its root town. In addition, you cannot purchase any other weapons for this class other then single-use weapons and items, such as potions and shurikens. It requires an extremely dedicated player willing to pour countless hours and efforts in order to unlock this class' full potential. (Root town: Citadel)

NOTE: THIS CLASS IS ONE-TIME USE ONLY! IF YOU SEE THIS CLASS IT MEANS THAT YOU HAVE BEEN AWARDED A SPECIAL GIFT. You may only make one character that is this class. This class can only be passed hereditably once every five years, and only a maximum of three players may have this class in the entire World.

(Please choose your desired class wisely)

(**ATTENTION: IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO CHANGE YOUR CLASS ONCE YOU HAVE BEEN CONFIRMED OF SELECTING A CLASS FOR YOUR PC!**)

…

-Click-Click-

(**CLASS: Demon Prince**. Are you sure?) (Yes/no)

-Click-

(Would you like to edit your character's appearance?) (Yes/no)

-Click-

(Please edit your character's appearance to your heart's content, using all the options available in your screen)

-Click-

-Click-

-Click-

…

-Click-

(Character edit confirm?) (yes/no)

-Click-

(Character Name: **Caris**. Character Gender: **Male**. Character Race: **Human**. Character Class: **Demon Prince**)

(Confirm choices?) (yes/no)

-Click-

(Are you **absolutely** sure?) (yes/no)

-Click-

You will now be taken to Delta Server: Dark Citadel, a root town suitable for beginner players of this class. For further information about the game, please consult your manual for details and/or consult the game's official forum

-_Omega Games Corporation_-


	2. Chapter 2

**-Low-level Hero**

All I could say was… Whoa…It was tremendously amazing that all of those things weren't real—I even felt the need to take a deep breath and exhale it slowly… just to give my mind time to digest all that I saw.

Really, they were all just make-believe—merely a computer rendition of the real ones in real life. Just the same—the fact that the town and the river were basically just a compilation of 1s and 0s made them even more astonishing, given how outlandishly realistic-looking those things were…Even the water looked outstandingly realistic. The way they moved, the sound they made, how they reflected the light cast by the sun…

Not just that—the atmosphere was exceptionally life-like too. People waltzing around here and there… people buzzing… people talking to each other… people hurrying to one place or another… Shops, stores, with people bargaining deals in them… There were even cars and bikes running on the roads, complete with their extraordinary details—even to the smallest things like the smoke they exhausted or the sound of their machines roaring. The wonders did not end there, though. When I looked up, the illusion that there's a real sky up there was so strong that for a moment I forgot that I was inside a video game, that the sky above me right now wasn't real at all. The sun, the clouds…, even the birds… and how they moved…I just kept walking, and walking, and walking, and before I knew it, I arrived at the front of a bridge, built atop a river separating two separate parts of the town.

"…Huh…" I muttered.

I then strolled to the bridge, and looked down. I was now just strolling around the town of Citadel, and my eyes just couldn't help but to marvel at all the things surrounding me. The town was extremely—to the point that it's really kind of eerie—realistic, with buildings, houses, cables, roads, electric lamps, trash cans… practically everything someone should expect to see available in a real-life town.

_No wonder almost everywhere I go in school people always seemed so excited talking about this game—like this game was the only thing in life that matters to them or something_. Although I didn't really personally appreciate that kind of attitude, I at the very least could understand them better now that I was experiencing the game myself.

I looked down to see if my character editing had come out how I wanted it to. To my satisfaction, I looked how I had wanted. I had on a long black jacket with short sleeves, and with a high collar that obscured most of my face below my eyes. On my hands were black leather gloves. My pants were black, and I had a pair of black combat boots on my feet. There was a design of a golden dragon with glowing white eyes on the back of my right shoulder. Strapped to my leg was a black-bladed dirk, a weapon that was half the length of a sword but twice the length of a dagger. Its handle was white, with a golden orb at the bottom of the hilt.

I looked around. There was an engineer nearby. She was pacing agitatedly. When she noticed me watching her, she snapped at me.

"Hey! This is still life you know! It's rude to f***ing stare! Apologize now!" I was taken aback at her manner.

_WTF?_

"Uh… uh…" I was wondering whether to pick her up and throw her into the water or through a nearby building's window.

"Hmph." She walked away. I wondered what her problem was.

"Don't let annoyances like her get you down." A man with short brown hair, wearing a white collared T-shirt under a black long trench coat that divided into seven tails, walked over to me. "Some players aren't very nice."

"She thought I was the rude one." I said. "Who are you?"

"You honestly don't recognize me?" he smirked. "I knew that this was you because you are the only level one special character here. Aren't I at least familiar?" he drew his sword. THAT caught my attention. It was a Heaven's Cloud, a special award weapon that contained several swords combined into one. I had witnessed my friend play with it most of the time.

"Now I recognize you, Robert." I smiled. "Now… what the heck am I doing?"

"Well, let me teach you the basics of combat!" he drew his sword again. I drew my dirk.

"So what, do I just keep slashing at you?" I joked.

"You'll hardly get anywhere with that little stick." His sword was as big as he was tall.

"You never know." I grinned. Then I ran at him.

In real life, I had taken karate lessons. However, I knew that kicks and punches wouldn't lower his HP. So when I went for that upward jab, when he raised his big weapon to block it, I slashed under his guard with my dirk. However, my dirk glanced right off! _He's wearing armor under that shirt!_ I realized. Then he slashed at me, and I didn't have time to block. My HP went down by one third.

"You _do_ realize that in two more hits you will be Game Over, right? Your HP isn't up to even challenging a level five, much less me!" Robert asked. He was a level 10 Heavy Blade. I scooted back, on the defensive. Then he charged at me again, and I blocked. However, the momentum of his sword made me stab myself slightly with my own dirk. My HP dropped again. _What can I do?_ I wondered. One more hit and I was dead.

Suddenly, I felt something ignite inside me. My skin turned pure black, and then glowing golden squiggly lines ran over it. There seemed to be a chain embedded into my left arm. Suddenly, the chain extended. There were blades covering it. My jacket and all clothing covering my upper body seemed to have disappeared.

"Wha-" Robert sputtered. I swung my chain at him. It wrapped around his arm, slicing deeply. His HP dropped sharply. I spun it again, and sent it flicking towards his head. Robert managed to dodge it, but only barely.

"Hey! How did your HP rise!" he asked.

"When I enter Demon-State," I stated ominously, "ALL of my stats go up several levels, including HP!" _Of course, that means that when I return to human form everything goes back down again… so if I take too much damage in demon form, I can die when I revert to human. Interesting._

I continued battering Robert from a distance with quick successive attacks. Although each of my attacks was only doing medium damage to him, I was slowly weakening him. My strategy gave him no time to defend or counter my movements. After a while, I launched an assault straight at his head. The chain wrapped around it, and I pulled it, very hard, so that it sliced into his face. His HP dropped to only 2!

I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. Nine tiny objects pierced me. I looked. A steam gunner stood there, frantically reloading her machine pistol. I swung my chain at her. It wrapped around her weapon. I tugged, and the gun flew out of her hands. She fell over, trying to regain her weapon. I walked over to her.

"Why would you interrupt our battle?" I said, standing over her, still in Demon-State.

"Robert is my friend!" she said fiercely. "You already lowered his health to 2; must you kill him as well? Don't be a PK!"

"This is just a game." I shifted out of Demon-State. I was human again, but my left arm and a small part of my left shoulder blade remained black with the golden lines. "It's not like I'm really killing him."

"It's all right, Kasha." Robert walked up. He still had 2 HP. "One sec, I'm saving my game." He stood there motionless for a second. "Done."

_BANG!_

Robert stood motionless, then collapsed and faded away. His health bar read zero.

"What the hell?" I said. Kasha whirled. Behind us, a man in a long red trench coat with a red blindfold on stood pointing a still smoking three-barreled pistol towards where Robert had been standing moments ago. One of his hands looked like mechanical gold, with the fingers sharpened to claws. He was a mechanical Steam Gunner, and I recognized him as Venice, of Cardinal City. He was a famous assassin and PK.

"Young prince." Venice stated sternly. "Your father requests your sole presence in the top pf the Citadel. Please do not keep him waiting."

"You… you know my father?" I asked.

"I am one of your father's most trusted assassins." He stated ominously. "Please do not make yourself my next target, and move along swiftly."

"What the hell?" Kasha said again.

"My father was the one who sent me this character." I explained. "For the last five years, my father has claimed the title of Ruler over the area surrounding Citadel, called the Dark Lands. You know those ridiculous rules like: 'every day at twelve o' clock people must freeze movement for five minutes?' He made that and other rules just so that he can really piss off other players. I can't believe that he even makes players in this root town pay him a small 'tax'. There can only be a total of three players with the Demon Prince class in the entire world. It's been passed 'hereditably' to the next ruler of the dark lands. It was the same in The World: One and Two. I never understood why Omega Games never ousted him until he sent me this character: evidently he's in some sort of partial admin status ever since they lost a lot of their workers in those network crises." I hesitated. Then I saw Robert walk back up. Venice aimed his gun at him.

"Don't you dare do that again!" I growled at Venice. "We were only sparring. He was teaching me the basics of the game!"

"I will do whatever makes you get to your father faster." He had a bored look on his face.

I waved to my two friends to follow me. We all followed Venice to the very top of the Citadel. There were black-armored guards everywhere. We passed through two Great Halls, and entered the Great Elevator. No one besides the privileged and the doomed ever entered it.

At last, we reached the top. There, in the third hall on the top level, in a stone throne adorned with skulls, sat my father. His character was a large, pale-skinned man, with two large horns emerging from his forehead.

"Welcome! My son." He smiled slightly. "I wondered when you would join the rest of The World."

"Sooner then I expected too." I said politely.

"These, I assume, are your friends?" he pointed to Kasha and Robert.

"Yeah. This is Robert of Citadel, and this is Kasha of… of… Cardinal City."

"I asked you to come alone." His eyes sparked.

"Yeah, but I didn't really feel like it." I smirked. My mother emerged from behind the throne.

"You should have listened to your father, Caris!" she was wearing a black robe, and carried the weapon that had been assigned to Demon Queens: a double-ended long dagger. She nodded at the guards. Venice shoved me forwards, where two guards pinned me down. The remaining guards converged on Robert and Kasha.

"Good parents discipline their children!" My father laughed. "You will have to suffer, so that you may be corrected!"

"For your punishment, you must execute your friends!"


	3. Chapter 3

**-What people do when their parents go crazy**

_This is why I'm glad that I live alone in real life now. My parents are creeping me the hell out._

"I will do as you say from now on, mother," I said, desperately bargaining, "But I will not become an executioner."

"You will do as we tell you!" My father sprang up, grabbing me by my shirt. He thrust my dirk into my hands. "You will do it or I will kill you!"

"For your own sake, Caris, there is no turning back now! You must that you must do what is necessary!" I walked up to where the guards had restrained, my friends. I raised my dirk to strike…

… I slammed my blade into the hot coals of the fire pit, and flicked them to the side.

"What are you doing?" my mother screamed.

"What is necessary." I growled. The hot coals landed in a huge pile of gunpowder, a resource that had made most Steam Gunners and Engineers enter service with my father. The heat from the coals ignited quite a bit of the gunpowder. That exploded, and I took the ensuing chaos as a distraction. Grabbing my friend's hands, I leapt forwards, out into the First Hall. Most of the guards here tried to stop us. However, they were mostly Heavy Blade's, and Kasha took those from where she stood at the doorway. The remainders were a Flick Reaper, and an Adept Rogue. Robert engaged the level 63 Adept Rogue cautiously, while I faced the Flick Reaper.

I didn't bother trying for him with my dirk, instead going straight to Demon-state. Actually, I didn't really beat him, I just snarled his feet with the chain, causing him to fall over, and while he was busy getting up I pulled Robert and Kasha with me down to the Second Hall leaving the Adept Rogue bewildered. This was filled with Steam Gunners, and since Steam gunners had no melee ability whatsoever, we made short work of them, even though everyone in the hall was over level 18. Most of them actually panicked and ended up shooting people on their own side.

We entered the Great Elevator. There was a pair of Adept Rogues there, with another chained Blade Master between them. They both saluted when they saw me.

"Lord… Lord Prince!" they stammered. "We knew you were coming soon, but we didn't know-"

"Why is he chained?" I asked.

"This man ignored the rule of no outside movement at the twelve o' clock hour yesterday. We are bringing him to the prisons to serve a sentence-"

The low level Adept Rogue never knew what gave him a Game Over. My chain was around his head and pulled taut so fast that he never had a prayer. I realized with that that when using the chain, depending on where I attacked him he lost more HP. Also, some parts would give up massive amounts of HP regardless of what level the person attacking you was. Kasha opened fire on the remaining Adept Rogue. He blocked her shots! _Is that even possible?_ Then Robert attacked. I was busy severing the chains holding the prisoner. He drew his weapon.

"Die!" he roared. His weapon, a silver award katana, slammed it into the back of the adept rogue's head. The adept rogue was stunned. I wrapped my chain around his neck, and pulled. His head flew off, before he faded away in his personal Game Over.

"Let's go." I walked out of the elevator, and walked calmly through the halls. My three companions were nervous, but I made them walk as if nothing was wrong. The people in the first and second halls of the first floor ignored us, or saluted or bowed in respect.

We made it out into the street, before I noticed Venice vaulting from the top floor onto the building opposite. I dragged my three companions to a small circular device, while reverting to human form.

"Hey, everyone use this Chaos Portal and meet at Bursting Passed Over Aqua!" Robert ordered. Before I could respond, they all nodded and disappeared.

_HUH? Where the heck did they go?_ I looked around. My friends were nowhere to be seen. I sat down on a nearby bench, wondering whether I should just log out for now, read the manual, and learn a bit more about the game. I saw the clock in the clock tower hit twelve o' clock. Still I sat there. I don't know if I was waiting or what, but something just didn't feel right about logging out just yet. Suddenly, I saw a man in black armor tugging a girl towards the castle.

"Let me go! Please!" she begged.

"You violated the law. You will be executed!" He roared. I ran at him, and took his feet off with my dirk. I grabbed the girl, and pulled her around a corner. Dashing through a series of random alleyways, I ended up at another of the circular devices.

"You all right?" I asked. The girl nodded. She was an Assassin class, with a beginner's hidden blade, and a pair of Cat Claws. Her hair was brown, and she was kind of short. And…

_…IS THAT PINK ARMOR? HAHAHAHAHAHA! Wait… its not pink… that's dried blood… She painted her armor with BLOOD? Help! I just saved a maniac!_

"Thanks for saving me, sir!" she bowed again and again. I realized that she was doing that because of my demon arm; she probably didn't want me to arrest her for not showing respect to one of the royal family.

"It's all right." I said, motioning for her to stop bowing. "And don't call me sir; my name is Caris."

"All right, si- I mean Caris."

"What's your name? Why were they arresting you?"

"My name is Maya. And for how I was arrested, it's a long story. You see," she began, "I was trying to enter this field so that I could get an award weapon. If I get it, the guild Empire will allow me to join. However, something must be wrong with the field, because whenever I try and portal to it, a message comes up saying that it's a forbidden area. I kept trying, and I lost track of time. I was still trying when those guards tried to arrest me, and you saved me." She got a sad look on her face. "I guess my chance of joining the Empire is gone, now." She said quietly.

"Hey!" I said, snapping Maya out from her sad reverie, "How do you form a party with other players?"

"…Huh?" she said, "…What? Forming a party?"

"Yeah," I said with my eyes still looking at the Chaos Gate, "I mean, in this game, when you go out adventuring, you usually go out with a party right? How many people are allowed in a party?"

"As many people as you want…" Maya muttered, "…Although you can always go solo—alone… if you want… wait a minute, you don't know how to form a party?"

I nodded.

"I just logged in The World for the first time ever today, actually," I explained, "And I always hated reading instruction manuals, or things like it. Therefore, I am pretty much blind about almost everything in this game, besides fighting…Heck; I didn't even know what that thing was…" I pointed my finger at the Chaos Gate, "…Before you told me."

"…Then you should have gone to the Tutorial for Beginners board first before you started playing…" Maya said—this time it was her turn to have that amused look on her face.

"…Well, like I said, I like mysteries, and The World: Three seems to be a perfect place to look for mysteries," I said the first thing that crossed my mind.

Maya chuckled. "… Well… It's pretty simple, actually," she said, "First, you open your character's menu by pressing -START- at your controller…"

"Like this?" the real-life me pressed start on my controller, and a menu immediately showed up in front of my eyes, "…Hey, do you see that?"

"A player's menu is visible to that player only…" Maya said while laughing a little seeing me waving my hands around like an idiot, "That's why you get to see strange things when people just stand around in the street, seemingly doing nothing. Most probably they're just checking their character's menu… Anyway, roll up your sub-menus, and you should see a 'Member Address' menu…"

"Yeah…" I muttered, "I click it?"

"Obviously…" she answered, "After that, you enter the character's name you wish to invite to your Member Addresses list, or if you want to request your name to be added to that character's Member Addresses list… Once either way is approved and confirmed, you will have that person's Member Address and that person will have your Member Address."

"…That simple, huh?" I muttered again.

"…Yeah… that simple…" Maya said, "And then you can then send requests to form a party to that person. If that person approves your request, he or she shall be added to your party, and… there you have it!"

She suddenly looked kind of down.

"…A…although…" she said quietly, "…Be careful not to make that person mad at you or something, because then that person may remove his or her Member Address from your list, and your list becomes empty again, and you can't have a party anymore…"

"Hmm…" I muttered, "…Aaaand… click! There! I have sent my request to you."

"…W…what?" Maya seemed surprised, "…Y…you sent a request to me?"

"Well, naturally," I said casually, "As per now, you really are the only player I know in this game, besides two other people and another guy that I really don't know. Like I said, I just logged in this game for the very first time today—heck, I am even still just a measly level one character! I need someone to teach me how to do a lot of things in this game, and you seem pretty knowledgeable… So…why not?"

Maya appeared kind of speechless.

"…W…Well…" she stammered, "…Thanks, I guess. Well, this is actually the first time I've been requested by other players… because, well, I kind of suck… Only my boyfriend has ever requested me… Um… wait a minute, here's your invite arrived. L…let me open up my character's menu…"

She opened up her character's menu, went to the Member Addresses sub-menu, and immediately approved my invitation without even bothering to look it. While doing it, her face looked happy—like a child receiving an extremely delicious candy.

"…So, finished?" I said as I once again checked my Member Addresses sub-menu. Maya's name has been added to it.

"Excellent," I said, satisfied with the result, "Now, would you be so kind to invite me to your party?"

"W…what?" Maya looked surprised, "I…Invite you? That means I am the leader of the party?"

"Well, duh," I nodded my head, "You are a level three character, and I am a level one character. It's only natural for the weaker character to follow a stronger character, yeah?"

For a moment, Maya was gazing at me like I was some sort of alien or something. But in the end she nodded her head.

"…Well…" she said, opening up her Party sub-menu and sending up a party invitation to me, "…J…just so you know, I am not a very good leader… In fact, I am not a very good player either…"

"It doesn't matter," I muttered, "Just get on with it…Wait…, what's that -cling- -cling- sound in my ears?"

Maya giggled. "That's the sound of my party invite arriving at your character's data. Just open up your party sub-menu and… well, approve my invite. You will then be automatically added as… um… my party member…"

"Oooh snazzy," I joked, "You know, I am not really a video-game kind of person, but this is kind of fun…"

I opened up my party sub-menu and clicked 'Yes' when the game prompted me to approve Maya's party invitation.

"…There…" I said, "Now I am in your party?"

"Yes…" Maya replied.

"What was the name of the field?" I asked.

"Hidden Bloody Snowfield."


	4. Chapter 4

**-Irregular Actions**

I touched the Chaos Portal. Instantly, a box into which I could type text appeared in front of my eyes. I typed in the words _Hidden Bloody Snowfield_. There was a white blur for a moment, and then there was the sound of interference. Suddenly, I was standing on a white snow-covered hill.

Maya looked around the area nervously, "…I… I think we are inside the forbidden Area… We're inside the _Hidden Bloody Snowfield_…"

"Really?" I exclaimed—unlike Maya, I wasn't _too_ worried, "You mean we're inside that Area where nobody has ever entered yet?"

"…Yes…" she nodded, "I… I am sure of it. This Area… it must be it… It fits the description of the Area… Snowy field…"

She looked around the Area again as she quickly opened her character's menu and equip her Hidden Blade weapon. All of the sudden Maya's hands were flashing bright, and the next thing I saw was that a long blade had slid out from under wrist, "…Wait, I think I know how to do that, let me double check…"

I opened my own character's menu, and went to Equipment sub-menu.

"…Bingo," I claimed victory as I equipped my other weapon. Like Maya, my hands were flashing and soon immediately after that, I found myself holding a particularly wicked-looking dirk. It was different from the one that must have automatically equipped when I had entered my battles in Citadel. _I didn't know that I had two dirks…_

"Cool," I said as I swung the weapon around. I never held a weapon of any kind before in my entire real-life history, but nevertheless the dirk was still real easy for me to move around. _The programmer of the game sure did a wonderful job for this game…_

"…This is a pretty good looking dirk, "I said admiringly, "I wonder… is it powerful?"

"It's just an entry-level weapon," Maya said without even looking at my weapon, "You can buy it at the Weapon Shop for a very low price…"

"Well isn't _that_ a killjoy or what," I said as I twirled my dirk 360 degrees effortlessly—now _that_ was something I most definitely wouldn't be able to do in real life. _Should I try to do something like that ever, there's a very good chance that I would cut my hands off._

Maya was gazing around our surroundings once more. She finally fixed her eyes on me. She squinted her eyes at me like she was scrutinizing me.

"…How did you that?" she asked.

"Did what?" I replied rather absent-mindedly as I was still pre-occupied with my dirk.

"E…Entering the area!" Maya exclaimed hastily, "…I mean, no one has managed to do that before! I have tried to enter this area myself for four times to no avail, a…and yet when you're the one accessing the menu, the Area let us both in all of the sudden!"

"…Well…" I mumbled. I stopped swinging and thrusting my dirk around, "…I am not really sure myself. Like I said to you before, Maya, this is my first day _ever_ in The World. And not just this version of The World too—I heard there're two versions of The World before, yeah? Well, call me a person living under a rock, but I've never tried those games either… Really, this is my first experience at this kind of thing…"

Maya stared at me suspiciously. Her expression wasn't that all trusting.

"…H…hey, what?" I said awkwardly, "You don't believe me? Like I said before, I am a total beginner in this game, and…"

Suddenly, I looked up, my face a bit surprised. "Hmm?" I mumbled, "…Why all of the sudden the background music changed?"

Maya's expression was quick to becoming tense, and she immediately took a battle stance.

"This is the battle theme song! A… a monster is approaching!" she said, rather panicky, "get ready, Caris!"

"Whoa, a battle?" I exclaimed—and sure enough, it was not too long before there was a warning text 'BATTLE ON' streaking through my screen. I merely stood there calmly, waiting for the enemy to appear. _If I can take other players more then twice my level, a level five monster I should be able to attack without entering demon state… I hope…_

"This area is level five… so the enemy shouldn't be too dangerous…" Maya informed me, "But nevertheless, we must still be careful! Most particularly because you are still at level one and me level three! And be careful that they might also attack us in groups!"

"Roger that!" I replied—I was kind of excited for the fact that I was about to enter my very first The World monster battle. They were different from fighting other players.

…

…The battle music still played in the background. It was a kind of catchy song, actually. It was the kind of upbeat music that could really pump someone's spirit up—not to mention provoking an adrenaline rush.

Maya looked to the right.

…I looked to the left.

…

The battle music was still playing…

…And playing…

…

"…H…huh?" Maya muttered—she was still in her battle stance, but her face looked kind of funny, "…That's weird…"

"What's weird?" I asked, though for some reason I also felt kind of funny too.

"Um…"

…

She looked around for more, but once again there was absolutely nothing there except for her and me. No monsters, no nothing. Just an open field filled with beautifully rendered crystalline snow flakes falling from the skies.

…

"…Usually…" Maya explained to me, "…No, I mean, not usually, but _always_… When the battle music played in our speakers, a monster, or a pack of monsters, would immediately appear… It usually took only a second or two… But…"

I looked around.

…

"Nothing's here…" I muttered.

"Yeah… nothing's here…" Maya said as she cancelled her battle stance, "That's weird… And the battle music still played in the background too…"

…

Suddenly, a set of numbers were popping out from under their both our legs, and it surprised me greatly.

"H…hey!" I said, "What's with this thing?"

"…It's the graphic effect for experience points… to level up…" Maya said as she looked down on her feet, "…Awarded to players when they're victorious in battle, or after completing specific events in an Area…"

…

"…B…but…"

From the look on her eyes, the numbers popping out from under her character was definitely something she considered as 'not normal'.

…

…Because it suggested that she just received 1.000.000 experience points!

"…W…what the…?" she said, "…A… a million experience points?"

And when she looked at me, something even weirder happened

…The numbers popping out from under my legs suggested that I just received experience points of -1.000 exp!

"_What_?" she exclaimed in shock, "…_Minus_ one-thousand?"

"Well that's a shocker," I commented after I saw my share of numbers. "I've never known a game rewarding its player with minus experience points…"

"That's because there're no such games, and I am sure The World is not too!" Maya explained hastily as she opened her character's menu to check her status, "…A…and I've received _a million_ experience points! That's just impossible!"

When she opened her status sub-menu, to her relief she found that her character was still at level three, and nothing seemed to change—at least, there was no indications whatsoever that her character was changed.

…_A million experience points received altogether at once would surely make her character jump in levels from three to God only knows how much. An abnormality like that would surely alert the game administrators, and there's a big chance she would be considered as a cheater._

…She didn't want _that_ to happen, of course, because it was well known amongst the players of The World, and even I knew, that the administrators would never act kindly towards any kind of cheaters.

…

"Shouldn't you check your character's status, just in case…?" Maya said to me as she closed her character menu.

"Well, I guess I could, but I see any reason why I should," I replied, "…I _am_ still a level one character anyways—so even if I did receive minus experience points… that wouldn't change things much." I looked up again, with my right index finger placed on my chin. "…So, uh, why's the battle music still playing even though there's nothing around?" I muttered.

"... I have no idea," Maya shook her head—her face looked extremely worried, "…We shouldn't have received _any_ experience points too, since we didn't defeat _any_ monsters… We didn't even _do_ anything! This place… I don't like it… I feel strange here…"

…

…She looked around once more.

…

"Hmm?" I noticed something, "…Hey, the battle music stopped…"

I was right—the game's battle theme suddenly faded away and stopped all by itself. In its place, a very nice and soothing jazz-like music kicked in. I guessed that this new music was the real normal background music for this type of Area.

The music itself was very considerate in its pace, and the way it harmoniously sang its tunes… somehow, it was mysteriously able to provoke that relaxing and comforting feeling… to any person fortunate enough listening to it.

…Not that it helped for Maya though, because she was still busy looking worried to even pay attention to the background music. She didn't even seem care that the battle theme has been replaced.

Right now, all she seemed to care about was…

"I…I think we should Gate Out for now," she said with a very serious look on her face, "That's a term we use when we exit an Area and return to a Root Town…" she quickly explained before I could ask any questions, "A…and then we go back to the Forum, and tell the game administrators about this… About all of these weird things that's happening to this Area and to us…"

"…You sure?" I was a little disappointed, though I showed no inclinations of refusing or debating her proposition, "You don't want to get that very rare weapon? From the looks of it, we are undoubtedly the very first people ever entered this Area, so the weapon should still be here for the taking…"

"Yeah, I am sure," Maya nodded her head as she opened her character's menu, "…This place is… dangerous… and I think it would be best if we just go out from now. I just got a bad feeling about this Area… A…anyway, the weapon may be very rare, but it's not like we couldn't find a better one out there…"

"…But what about the Guild you're trying to enter?" I asked, "Didn't you need that weapon to enter the… what was it called? The Empire?"

"It's all right," Maya said as she scrolled through her menu, and clicking the Gate Out tab, "It's not like I am… expecting much from it anyway. And… there're a lot of great independent players…" Maya clicked on the OK tab on the Gate Out confirmation box, though her eyes were slightly teary.

"…Let's just Gate Out first for now," she finally said.

-FLASH!-

My screen once again flashed brightly—just like before when I first arrived at this snowy field from Citadel. The flash didn't last long too this time, and I felt kind of miserable because I knew that once I returned to Citadel, I would need to keep running from my father and mother.

…

…

-Fzzztt-

…-Fzzztt-…

…

We reappeared.

…Only thing was, what I saw on the screen right now was not the alley in Citadel in front of the Chaos Gate.

…

"Uh…" I muttered slowly, "…Maya, why are we still… uh, in the Area?"

It took me only one quick look to know that this sort of thing had never happened before to Maya. Her expression clearly showed that her shock was most definitely greater than mine. It's true—instead of returning back to the (relative) safety of Citadel, as I clearly thought was the intention of gating out—we were still standing inside the same Area, apparently at the very same spot.

"…W…what the…" Maya mumbled nervously.

"Shouldn't we return to the town right now?" I asked her while looking around.

"…We _should_ be!" she said hurriedly, her face looked very disturbed, "We should have been warped back to Citadel!"

She hastily opened her character's menu again, and quickly clicked the Gate Out tab once more.

Just like before, she clicked OK when the confirmation box appeared, and once again, both hers and my character were enveloped by a flash of light…

…And once all of that already happened, we found ourselves—to Maya's horror—_still_ standing on the same spot inside the Area nevertheless. It was obvious then that her attempt of Gating Out was a failure.

…

…

"…W…what's going on in here?" Maya looked terribly worried, "…W…why we can't Gate Out from this Area?"

"Maybe I should try it?" I proposed—I felt kind of bad looking at Maya worrying like that, but I also at the same time felt kind of relieved because it meant that I wouldn't be attacked by Venice anytime soon. "…You know, the game let us in to this Area only when I tried to access it—perhaps it may only let us out if I am the one trying to Gate Out?"

Maya shook her head.

"N…no…" she muttered, "The only player in the party allowed accessing the Gate Out menu in an Area is the player acting as the leader… S…should, for example, the leader is defeated in a battle and the rest of the party members have no means of reviving him… or h…her… then the only possible way of getting out without having a game over from a particular Area is to accomplish the Mission given on that Area…"

"Mission?" I asked.

Maya nodded.

"T…try pressing -SELECT- button on your controller…" she said, "You should see the map of the Area… if y…you look on the bottom of your screen, you should see the Mission in this Area…"

"…Hmm…" I did as I was told and pressed the -Select- button.

A map of some sort showed up on my screen. It was quite a detailed map, showing both my and Maya's position, along with many objects such as trees, mountains, and various structures all viewed from satellite-like position. The map marked many places on the map with a '!' sign, and interestingly, one of the '!' marked location was the location where him and Maya stood right now.

There was also one particularly attention-grabbing sign on the map—it was a mark of a human skull with flashing eyes. I could only wonder what that sign meant…

"The Mission is on the bottom of the screen, yeah?" I said, reading the scrolling writings on the bottom of my screen, "…It says… _Enter the Dungeon and take the treasure from the Gott Statue _… What does that mean?"

"It means what it says…" Maya muttered, "…I knew it already, though—most Missions on a Field-type Area like this are to take the treasure from the statue…"

"…And this Dungeon?" I asked, "How can we find it?"

"…Y…you saw a skull mark on the map, right?" she answered, "It marked the location of the entrance to the Dungeon… The Dungeon is, to be precise, the most dangerous place in an Area… In the deepest part of the Dungeon, there's a treasure box holding rare and valuable item in front of the Gott Statue—once we obtain it, the game will scan our characters and then it will allow even a party without a leader to Gate Out from an Area…"

"Well then!" I clapped my hands, "I think by now it should be obvious what we should do next, right?"

"…W…what?" Maya looked at me.

"Well… what else, I mean really?" I said, "We should head to the Dungeon and take that treasure from that whatever statue! After that, we _should_ be able to return to the town once we completed the Mission, yeah?"…

"Well, I guess you're right. Let us head to the Dungeon for now… J…just be careful, alright? We don't know what kind of other strange things may happen on Area like this…"

"Of course," I nodded. "…And you know, while we're at it, you can teach me a lot of stuff about this game to me. Now _that_ what's I call killing two birds with one stone!"

"…What are you worrying about, really?" I said as I once again checking my map to make sure we were walking in the right direction.

"Um…" she muttered with her head still swiveling, "…T…this is very, very strange… I mean, we've been walking for quite some time through this Area, a…and yet we still haven't found any monsters _anywhere_ in the Field…"

"That's not normal, isn't it?" I asked, though I wasn't really asking, as I already knew the answer to it. I closed my map when the confirmation has been made—it wouldn't be too long now before they arrived at the Dungeon's entrance.

"Of course _not_!" Maya said, "That's why I said it's strange, okay? Usually there would be tons of monsters lurking around in the Field! It's the game's method to help us leveling up a bit before we tackle the difficult portion of the Dungeon! B…but this place…"

"…Yeah…" I mumbled as I too, glanced around, "For an action adventure game, I guess things are real quiet around here…"

Aside from trees and various odd-looking structures that Maya described as 'mere decorations', I didn't see anything else whatsoever. The view of everything covered in snow was spectacular, but I would have preferred it if I could engage in some sort of…

…Well, an exciting action, perhaps?

"Wow…" I said in amazement.

Now we were standing in front of a very huge frozen lake. Its surface was reflective of the sunlight from above, making it looked like a giant beautiful mirror. It was a beautiful sight to behold—I, once again, just couldn't believe that it was all just computer rendering…

Something that wasn't even real…

"Isn't this the lake we saw when we first arrived?" Maya said, "Have we just been walking around in circles?"

"No, no, it's different," I said, "This one is most definitely bigger than the first one we saw when we first arrived, and besides… look over there: that thing wasn't there on the first lake."

I pointed my finger on a strange-looking structure located approximately near the center of the lake. It's like an open mouth of a cave.

Maya observed it for a while, before she finally said,

"…I suppose t…that's the entrance to the Dungeon…" she mused, "Wow… I've never actually seen one placed on top of a frozen lake like this…"

"Hey…" I said with an amused look on my face, "Does this mean we will go adventuring _under_ the lake? Like an underwater Dungeon sorts of thing? That's kind of awesome, actually!"

"I've never been to one too, actually…" Maya muttered, "…Well, come to think of it, this is my first time visiting a snow-type area also…"

"…Well, what are waiting for then?" I cheered, "The sooner we get to the Dungeon, the sooner we'll be able to accomplish our Mission, the sooner we can go back to Root Town, right?"

"Y…yeah…" she said, "Let's go…"

We both walked to the edge of the frozen lake, with eyes transfixed onto the entrance of the Dungeon.

Maya hesitated a bit though; when she was supposed to put her feet on the lake's surface—like she was afraid that the ice might split wide open because of her weight. I, on the other hand, just jumped right in without a second thought.

_"…__I don't get it__…"_ I pondered in my mind as I looked closely to the Lake's frozen surface, _"__This should be just a game right__? __Virtual Reality stuff__? …__And yet, how is it that I feel cold in my feet in real life when my virtual character's feet that touch the frozen ice__? __Did they really able to programming some sort of 'feelings simulation' too inside this game__? What other things can I feel? There was some slight pain when I was attacked before…"_

I didn't get to think about it much, however, because all of the sudden I heard a sudden -Bump!- and a voice from behind. When I turned around, I saw that Maya had fallen to the ground—it appeared that she was slipping off her own feet.

"…Are you alright?" I said as I approached her—at first, I wanted to give her a hand to stand back up, but she hurriedly stood up on her own without giving me a chance to do so.

"I… I am fine!" Maya said hastily, her face blushing crimson with her eyes looking on the ground, "I am fine! I…I was just… it's slippery and I was just a little careless and… HUH?"

She jumped a little, and because of that, she _again_ lost her balance and fell right back to the ground, with a particularly nasty -Bump- sound effect following quickly behind this time.

I was so close to laughing in front of Maya because she fell twice consecutively—but I didn't do it because I saw a terrified look on her face.

"…What?" I asked, "…What happened?"

"U…u….u…uhh…" she trembled, her expression was horrified, "Uh…u…uh…"

"Hey!" I said again as I hastily grabbed her hands and pull her up so she could stand on her two feet again, "What's the matter with you?"

"…U…um… C… Caris…" she said as she pointed her quaking hands, "…L…look… look over there! Down b…below!"

"Look what?" I followed the direction Maya pointed, and…

"W…WHOA!" I yelled in shock.

I didn't fall to the ground like Maya, but what I saw was definitely shocking.

-Zrrruuuuuuuuusssshhhh-

-Zrrruuuuuuuuusssshhhh-…

I saw a shadow of something…

…Something _big_.

…Something _seriously_ _big_ was there…

…Below the lake…

Swimming…

All around under the frozen lake…


	5. Chapter 5

**-OH FRIGGIN S***…**

For the first time ever since they both entered this Area, I had a disturbed expression on my face.

"…W…what _is_ that?" I asked, "…Is that a monster?"

The shadow was shaped like a humongous eel—an _extremely large_ eel, and it swam effortlessly through here and there all around the lake like the entire lake was a territory that solely belonged to it. It was an extraordinary—but also at the same time, eerie sight. The thought of having a really big mysterious creature moving around under your feet should be more than enough to distraught anyone, because you never knew what it might just do. Even the sound of it swimming gracefully inside the water was more than enough to terrify anyone unfortunate enough to encounter it.… Even I had to remind myself multiple times that what I saw in front of me was nothing more than just a program—a make believe—just in order to keep my heartbeat at a deliberate pace… Although the word 'terrified' was obviously an understatement to describe Maya's condition right now.

"H…hey!" I said without looking at Maya—I too, was watching the movement of the creature very intensely, "…What _is_ that thing? I… Is that a Boss Monster? Do we eventually have to fight it?"

"…I…I…. I don't… I… I don't know…" Maya stammered shakily, "…I… I've never seen anything like it before… I… I honestly didn't know t…that there's such a thing existed in The World…"

"…Well, it still doesn't change the fact that we must move and make a run above it in order to enter the Dungeon, right?" I quickly opened my character menu and equipped both of my dirks—I severely doubted that my dirks would help me much in this situation should the worst comes to worst, but at the very least the sight of me equipping a weapon was a lot better than me being empty-handed, and I always had Demon-State. "We still have to traverse through the lake to reach the entrance, right?"

-Zrrruuuuuuuuusssshhhh-

The creature swam like nobody's business, and it moved closer to where I and Maya were standing—although it was only making a pass. It would appear that the monster had not yet spotted the pair above the surface.

…But we _sure did_ spot it. Now that the creature had moved closer to me, I could see that its real size was actually much bigger than I thought…

I saw something all of a sudden glimmering on the creature's front head when it swam right under me. It was just for two or three seconds, but I was sure that I saw an _eyeball_ looking _right at us_ at that exact moment.

The creature swam away from under me and Maya, but I had this _really_ bad feeling that the next time it made a pass under our feet, it wouldn't just swimming under us and moving away again…

"Damn it!" I exclaimed as I turned my attention to Maya, "Maya, I think that _thing_ spotted us! Come on! We _have to move_!"

Maya didn't say anything. She was still sitting on the ground, her eyes and her face looked really terrified, and her entire body was trembling. She did not even seem to listen what I just said.

"…Oh _man_…" I muttered.

I immediately grabbed one of her hands with my free hand and pulled her back forcefully. Maya looked surprised by this act, but she didn't resist or even trying to pull off her hand from mine.

"Caris!" Maya shouted to me, and I knew exactly what she was yelling about.

The shadow of the creature was moving towards us from the front, making a distinct swimming voice as it approached us.

For a split second, I considered stopping mid-way and changed their running direction, but in the end I decided to just move straight forward. The creature was moving so fast even if we changed direction it would be able to catch up to us easily anyway.

So I just charged forward and prayed for the best.

…Thankfully, the creature didn't do anything yet. It just bypassed us once again under our feet.

Sighing in relief, I hastened my steps towards the Dungeon's entrance. It wasn't too far now—_we might be able to make it before the creature can do anything to us…_

And then I saw it.

…When we were moving closer and closer towards the entrance, I saw it. I didn't know what it was, but my guts told me that it wasn't good, and me feelings also stated the same.

It was some sort of a blue mist, and it exuded from the ground, covering the Dungeon's entrance from the bottom to the top.

I didn't know what it was, but Maya didn't waste any time in screaming, "Oh no!" she said in horror, "…T…The Area Barrier!"

"Area Bar…?" I didn't even have time to finish my sentence when all of the sudden I heard the battle theme song running again in the background. "_What_?" I muttered inside my mind, "_Battle Music_?"

Soon enough, there was a warning sentence of 'BATTLE ON' streaking across the screen. And unlike our first time, this time it was pretty obvious where and what our opponent would be. Instinctively, I halted my advance just a few steps away from the entrance. I gazed at the blue mist with an observant glare.

"What is this thing?" I said.

"I…it's a barrier generated by the game," Maya answered, "Um… some sort of a restriction that blocks players' further advance. To clear the mist, players must first complete a certain task in the area or Dungeon's room where they're located. R…red mist means that there's a puzzle that should be broken first, yellow mist means that we have to carry specific item as a key in order to get through, a…and blue… blue means…"

"What?" I said as I turned my back, my eyes scanning my surroundings to search for cues as to the location of the giant monster—all I could grab with my senses was the sound of it swimming under the frozen lake _somewhere_ around them; it was very unnerving.

"B…Blue means we have to fight and defeat all the monsters in the Area where it is active first, b…before it dissipates…"

"You mean we have to defeat _that_ thing first?" I asked.

"…M…most likely," Maya let go of her hand that was holding my wrist quickly and opened her character menu. She then proceeded on equipping her own pair of claws, "…Uh… I… I suppose that monster I…is a boss character of some sort…"

Even with her weapons in her hands, she didn't look even the slightest bit confident.

"Whoa," I said as I readied my dirks, "…I've never thought that my first monster fight will be against a boss character like this. Kind of scary…" _Looks like I'll be entering demon form…_

Maya didn't say anything. Heck, she didn't even seem to listen to anything anymore.

…When I looked down, I could see that her legs were shaking—it was as if just standing upright was a difficult task to perform for her right now. The expression on her face was rather miserable, too.

-Vrrroooossssssshhhhhhhh-

"Ahh!" she suddenly yelled.

The shadow of the giant eel monster suddenly streaked below our feet, and it surprised both of us greatly, especially Maya.

The shadow kept swimming forward, away from us, until suddenly…

All of the sudden, the eel monster jettisoned itself up with a very fast launch. It launched itself to the air, leaving a very huge hole on the surface of the frozen lake. It flew high—very high, it managed to block the light coming from the sun.

Both I and Maya didn't have any time to get shocked—although it was obvious that we did, _greatly_—because something even more extraordinary happened.

They were like a voice of a bug getting squished by a large object, only magnified perhaps a hundred times louder so that I and Maya could hear them crystal clear in our speakers.

At first, the eel monster was wiggling like crazy in mid-air… but soon after that, unbelievably, all of the sudden there were both pairs of arms and legs bursting out from its main body! The sound of them bursting out was even more unpleasant than ever, and before both I and Maya could even _comprehend_ this new development fully in our heads, the eel flipped like an acrobatic master, and then landed swiftly with his legs on the top of the frozen lake's surface, causing another small tremor on the ground.

"…C…crazy…" was all I could say when I saw the creature that was standing in front of me, "W…what the hell…?"

It was a very large eel, facing upwards, with hands on each side of its upper body, also with a pair of legs on each side of its lower body. Its entire body was covered with some sort of disgusting slime that sled down to the ground very slowly… but the slime that went down from its body to the ground was very quickly replaced by another same slime seemingly coming out from its own very skin. The monster's skin also constantly moving forward and backward in a slow but constant manner, like it was breathing air on its own—and each time it moved, it made that terrible sound like a bug getting squashed. _What's even more eerie about the creature was the fact that there's a single, large round red-colored __eyeball__ stuck on approximately the center of the monster's height,_ and the eye was gazing at both me and Maya—the latter whom seemingly almost collapsed to the ground from sheer pressure alone.

It looked like this monster didn't have any mouth whatsoever, because I wasn't able to notice one—and I did not have even the slightest desire to check its location. The monster once again wriggled, like some sort of a truly despicable looking and exceptionally horrendous hula dancer. Its hands were flailing like crazy, and the slime covering its entire body was thrown all over the place around it because of its movement.

I _really_ never thought before that on my very first time on playing The World, I would be thrown into this kind of situation. All of my friends at school suggested that I should play this game because 'The World is very exciting!', but I sure as hell didn't expect _this_ kind of excitement. Getting thrown into an Area nobody has entered before, experienced a lot of—as Maya would say—'weirdness', and the _best _of all, on what would most definitely be my first monster fight, I, a mere level one Demon Prince, must come face to face with…

With…

…With _that_…

_What the hell, it's only a game…_

The monster still hadn't moved forward to me and Maya, but I felt quite safely sure that the gross-looking eyeball staring directly at us was a sign that the monster wouldn't just stand there all day doing nothing.

"Maya!" I said urgently to my partner as I lifted my dirk from the ground and turned its blade to the monster's direction. "…What should we do now? Do you have any idea?"

"Maya!" I shouted.

I glanced at her, and all it took was just one look at her, and I could immediately see that she was terrified… _extremely_ terrified. Her eyes were staring at the monster, but her expression looked really, really miserable. _It's like she really wants to look at another direction, but she just couldn't do it—like some invisible hands forcibly holding her head so that she couldn't turn it away even just for a moment._

_She's still standing, and she's still holding her weapons on her hands, but she's trembling greatly, and seemingly unable to move even slightly…_

It looked like all that was required was just another slight—_very_ slight—pressure of any kind, and she might just collapse here and now.

"…C… C… Caris…" she said with a quaking voice, "…T…T…This is…"

She trembled.

"…T…t…t…" she stammered, "T…t…that… that m…m…m….monster…"

I didn't say anything as I listened to her,

"I…I…I…it's not…" she stuttered, "…I…It's not… It's n…not a m… a monster of The W…World…"

She was shivering.

"…I… It couldn't be…" she faltered, "Th… the…there's n…no way t…that that… monster… I…is from The World…I…It can't be… Th… there can't be… a… a… a thing like _that_ in this g…game…"

"…" I didn't say anything.

…Because for some reason, I found myself agreeing with her.

I knew that the makers of this game really went out to make The World as real as humanly possible for the players. And perhaps, in that spirit, they created a lot of interesting, detailed and scary looking monster characters for players of The World to combat during their adventure in this game—well, they _should_ be scary, because monsters by definition _should_ appear scary, right?

Like any other aspects of The World I already had seen, I wouldn't be surprised to see that the makers of the game also went full-force of creating a repertoire of neat-looking and fun-to-battle monsters roaming in the game…

…_But that's just that. Those monsters were made for the fun of the players._

…And yet, this one was different.

This one monster in front of us—a hideous-looking monster with disgusting slime protruding from its entire body…

…I just somehow could feel that this kind of _thing_ was _not_ something the designers of this game would create for the sake of the players. I couldn't explain it really well, but I could feel some sort of… _malicious_ vibe… when I saw that creature.

…It felt like both me and Maya were in _real_ danger—not just video-game danger, but _real _danger. Like we were both now stuck inside a situation with _real_ potential harm to our _real _safety and well-being.

"…I…I…" I was snapped back from my reverie by Maya's stutter, "…C…Caris…"

She looked really terrified.

"…I… I d…don't know…" she trembled, "…I…don't know… I…if I can do this… I am… sorry, Caris…"

I closed my eyes for a second.

"Don't worry about it, Maya," I said firmly as I once again glued my eyes to the monster, my dirk held high against it.

"I… uh…" she muttered quietly, "…T… thanks…"

I didn't answer her, because right now I focused my entire attention on the monster.

The monster all of the sudden stopped its movement. It didn't wriggle like crazy anymore, and its hands weren't flailing madly anymore.

It just…

Stopped.

"_This is SO not good_…" I said inside my mind—the monster's red eyeball was staring intently at both me and Maya, and I somehow got a very strong hunch that it's going to do something…_ fast_.

And then…

There was the sound of footsteps, a yell, and thick sword slashed through the middle of the monster. The monster fell, twitching. The figure who wielded the sword stepped over the dying monster.

"You all right?" the guy with brown hair, a broadsword, and a blue armor set looked at Maya, not me. An adept rogue.

"Nick!" Maya yelled. She ran to him, and he grabbed her in his arms. They kissed.

_Boyfriend? Quite likely._ I smirked. Nick scowled at me.

"Why's a level one hanging with my girlfriend?" he demanded.

"Relax." I chuckled. "I was merely assisting her in her quest to get an award weapon. I had no intentions whatsoever of a date."

"You can't even protect a girl; you're a level one!" he smirked right back at me. I chuckled again.

"I'm only level one, you say?" I transformed into my demon form. "How about now?"

Both Nick and Maya were taken aback by my new form. Nick, however, recovered quickly.

"How do you do that?"

"Transform?" I asked. "It came with this character. It's an award. You see, technically, I'm the son of the ruler of Citadel."

"You are?" Maya screeched. "Then you are partly responsible for my arrest!"

"I got you out of it, didn't I?" I asked. I really didn't want to fight this guy Nick. He must have been a really high level to take out the boss in one strike.

"I'm actually level 453, if you're wondering." Nick smirked. "Even with your upgrade, you couldn't beat me."

"Maybe." I smirked. "Anyhow, I think that now that the big thing is dead, we can continue to the dungeons and Gate Out."

"Whatever." Nick sent me his member address. "Give me a call when you need to beg for mercy. I have a scroll that can get me and Maya out of here, so you're on you own." He took Maya's hands, and they looked into each other's eyes. Nick's manner annoyed me so much that I just logged out, forgetting all about saving my game or gating out and even about meeting my friends.

_He's a good fighter, and he's devoted to Maya, that's obvious. But why is he such a jerk to me?_ I spun away form my computer screen. I fell onto my bed. I was asleep in minutes.


	6. Chapter 6

**-Dungeons and ****Dragons**** Hackers**

I awoke the next day refreshed. _I am so happy that today's Saturday! _I cheered mentally. I felt bad now about abandoning my friends in the game. So, after eating, I logged into The World: Three.

I appeared in Citadel once again, but this time, instead of entering the castle, I walked into what looked like a bar.

"Hey!" I looked for the source of the voice. I then noticed the purple-haired katana-wielding Adept Rogue that I had rescued. He sat at a table with a Wavemaster. On the other side of the table was Robert and Kasha.

"Hey." I nodded at them.

"Where did you go yesterday?" Robert asked. "We looked but we never found you."

"Well, _someone_ *cough* ROBERT *cough* never showed me how to use Chaos portals. I ended up helping a level three Assassin get through a forbidden area. Then her obnoxious boyfriend came out of nowhere and I got annoyed at him and just logged out." I summarized my day.

"A forbidden area?" Kasha raised her eyebrow. "How did you get inside?"

"I have no idea." I sat at the table. "I guess that since my character type was developed before it was forbidden it can't recognize it as forbidden. Anyway, I got up to the dungeon, and there was this huge gigantic monster there. I will be honest, that thing had me a little scared. I mean, it was unholy AWESOME!"

"What happened then?" the purple haired man asked.

"Well, the girl's boyfriend, who just happened to be a level 453 player, decoded to show up and kill the monster. Then he started being a dick, so I left."

We sat there for a while, talking and laughing. I learned that the man I had saved was named Zan, and the Wavemaster's name was Chi.

"Are you planning to deal with your father, Caris?" Zan asked. I had been privately dreading this question.

"Well… I don't want players to have to deal with his stupidness anymore, and I really don't want to be hunted by him for the rest of my playing time." I shook my head. "However, he's a really high level. If I faced him now, I wouldn't have a prayer. I need to get stronger."

"We'll help you." My friends all said at the same time. There was a moment of awkward silence.

"So, Caris." Robert asked. "Where is this forbidden area?"

I groaned inwardly. I had had a feeling that that was coming. Reluctantly, I sent out party invites to my friends. I noticed that all of my friends were of the human race.

_Strange. I would think that someone would pick a mechanical, or a beast._ I shrugged, and I went out to the Chaos Portal.

"Well, look who it is." Nick and Maya were there, at the portal. "Trying to get back in?"

"Yeah, but it's not working again." Maya sighed.

"Why not join my party?" I suggested. "It worked for me." Maya and Nick agreed, and our party swelled to seven.

"Hey you!" a voice yelled. I turned, annoyed at yet another distraction. It was the engineer from the previous day.

"I know that this is really out of nowhere, but sorry about yesterday." She said.

"It's okay." I turned back to the Chaos Portal.

"Can I join your party?" she asked.

I sighed. Eight people were quite a large party in this game. Nevertheless, I accepted her. Our party was now Me, Robert, Kasha, Zan, Maya, Nick, Cynthia, and Chi

_When we reach the dungeons, even though we have Nick we will still probably need a bit of help._ I touched the portal, and typed in the words: Hidden Bloody Snowfield.

We appeared as before, in the snowy fields. After walking a ways, we suddenly heard the battle music playing.

"Last time we were here," I explained, while equipping my two dirks, just in case, "This music came on, but there were no monsters. Any idea why that happened?"

Zan had an idea. "There is probably a segment of the dungeon that runs very near the surface here. If there is a monster in the tunnel, then his proximity to you could have caused the battle music."

"Maybe." I decided to forget the incident for now. After a while of waiting, still no monsters appeared. Maya seemed ten million times more at ease, either from being with her boyfriend, or from the fact that should we encounter monsters there were a total of eight of us. I was a level one, Maya was a level three, Zan was a level four, Robert was a level ten, Chi was a level 24, Kasha was a level 32, the engineer, whose name I learned was Cynthia, was a level three, and Nick was his 453. One demon prince, one assassin, one Wavemaster, one engineer, one steam gunner, one heavy blade, one adept rogue, and one blade master.

When we arrived at the entrance to the dungeon, the eel was there again. This time, however, Nick waved us all across the ice, while he stayed to engage it. It was much the same as before. No description of the battle was necessary.

"The trick to killing it," Nick explained afterwards, "is to come at it from behind. All of it's strength is focused on a forward frontal attack. From behind, it can't see you, and it's vulnerable to any attack."

"Have you taken it before? How did you get in?" I asked. Nick's face fell.

"Well… my friend used to be a hacker. He… got caught after he let me in."

I dropped the subject.

We entered the dungeon. Inside, there was a myriad of monsters near the entrance. They went down without a problem. Monsters weren't nearly as tough as they seemed.

"Are you sure that this is a level five area?" I asked, as I ran a monster through with my left dirk, and took his head off simultaneously with my right dirk. The monster's health dropped to zero.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Robert said.

"Because these things seem way too easy for a mere level one." I muttered. Suddenly, I heard a *ching ching* sound in my ear. "What was that sound?" I asked.

"That noise means that you went up one level." Kasha said, blasting away a nearby monster. "Nice job."

We progressed through the maze of underwater tunnels, and sun found ourselves in a small cavern. It was filled with pillars dotted around in a seemingly random order. At the far end of the cavern was a statue. In front of the statue was a chest. Standing in front of the chest was a figure. The figure was a half-human half-bug hybrid: that is, it had a human head and human arms, but its legs and body were that of some insect. It also had fly wings. In its hands was a deadly mace.

"Who are you?" he said.

"We're players. What do you think we are?" Zan growled.

"Obviously." He sneered. "Just leave. The chest is mine."

"Hey!" I leaped towards him. If he got the weapon, then Maya wouldn't be able to join her guild!

The man swatted me away with a twitch of his mace.

_What… he's super strong! _

"Nick, what does your target scanner say about his power level?" Zan asked.

"It's over NINE THOUSAAAAAND!" Nick yelled. **(Dragonball Z reference)**

"What! Nine thousand?" Robert yelled.

Chi tried to cast a Banish spell on the bug-man, but the spell had no effect! A "miss" message popped up instead.

"Let's see you dodge this!" Kasha yelled, opening fire with her twin machine pistols. The shots struck cleanly. However, his health only dropped by 1 even though Kasha emptied two clips into him!

"Rrraaaaahh!" Robert yelled, charging him. Bug-Man blocked his swing, and hurled him back into a pillar. The pillar collapsed, pinning him down. Kasha strafed Bug-Man with bullets, but her entire two clips only did another 1 point of damage. She hid in the pillars while she reloaded. Cynthia ran forwards, throwing groups of explosives. They detonated around him, but his health dropped only another 1. At this, Nick ran at him. He was wielding a huge heavy blade in his right hand and a broadsword in his left hand. Chi cast a status effect onto Nick's swords: "bleed", which causes an enemy that is struck by the weapon to continuously lose health. However, Nick only scored one slight hit that did three points of damage to Bug-Man. Bug-Man then slammed Nick backwards, dropping his health to one with only one hit. Nick slid back. Zan leapt in. However, Zan didn't even get to strike, as Bug-Man smashed him into a wall with a hit, giving him only 1 health also. Nick ran in again, after having used a health potion. He was thrown back by a blast of magic from Bug-Man. He nearly fell into a bottomless pit, but at the last second he grabbed the edge, hanging on for dear life. Kasha tried to do a head shot, but she was slammed into an identical position to Nick.

I took stock of the situation: Robert, Nick, and Kasha were down. I, Zan, Chi, Cynthia, and Maya were still able to battle. Of us five, two were melee, and two were support. I led the attack, and charged with dirk's swinging. Zan was repulsed into a pillar before we even reached our opponent, and was pinned in the same manner as Robert. Cynthia and Chi were staying back, attacking Bug-Man from long range. Right when Maya and I were about to clash with Bug-Man, he leapt over our heads, slamming Maya down with his mace, and throwing me into a nearby wall. He landed next to Chi, whose leg he pinned under a huge piece of a pillar. Then he cast a "banish" spell onto Cynthia, making her intangible but not invisible. She could neither attack nor be attacked.

"You see, it is hopeless." He laughed. "I am, simply put, a hacker. This isn't even a character class! I _made_ this!" He laughed at us.

Only Maya and I were still able to attack. Maya ran at him. He didn't even bother blocking her. She stabbed him again and again, but after ten stabs he still hadn't lost any health.

"Stop trying to be a PK." He lifted her, and threw her into a pillar. I had grasped his strategy. He was using the pillars to pin us down, to effectively stop us from going after him. Only I was still standing.

I drank a health potion. Then I said it.

"The joke is on _you,_ my friend." I said, transforming into my demon state. "Prepare to be cast to your doom. This is the hour when darkness reigns."

He gaped at me. My chain wrapped around his mace, and I yanked on it. I was boosted stautswise by the fact that Chi had dark magic in his inventory. He flew towards me, and I smashed his face with my fist. He stopped himself in midair with his wings, and then charged me. I blocked his swing with my chain, and then wrapped it around his neck. However, he used that to flip me over and into a pillar. Unfortunately for him, I hooked my chain into the pillar, and used my momentum to swing back into him. I then was thrown to the floor. I noticed something… His HP had dropped from ninety-two to sixty-two! _Did I really do thirty points of damage?_

I aimed for his throat, and sliced off another ten health points.

"This isn't fair!" he yelled. "How is this happening?"

"This isn't FAIR?" I laughed manically. "You were the one who cheated: I am merely making use of facts!"

My chain flicked like lightning in a stormy sky, and I worked him down to sixteen healths. He was angry and scared now, and wasn't using skill now like he had before; he was merely hacking and slashing wildly. _He isn't all that skilled: he just knows a few really useful guards and counters; plus the fact that the shield on his health makes him virtually impregnable. When it comes to an even battle, he isn't tough at all. Time to end this._

"Die now. Perish in the abyss." My chain flicked at his neck again, and I saw it slice through where the jugular vein would be in a normal person. His health dropped to one. He was dead now, he realized: the "bleed" spell that Chi had cast on him earlier was still in effect.

"Sleep." I closed his eyes. Then his health dropped to zero, and he faded away.

I heard clapping, and I realized that the rest of my party, who all had less then five health, was clapping. I grinned. Then I used my chain to tow the pillars away that were pinning my party. Once Chi was up, he cancelled the Banish spell on Cynthia.

"I never thought you could do it." Nick said with a smirk. "Guess you don't suck as badly as I thought you did."

"I had a feeling he could do it." Zan said. He was handing out health potions. Suddenly, numbers started popping up under our feet.

"Zan… plus fifty." Zan growled. "That's not much…"

"Minus _one? _ That's not legal!" Chi yelled.

"Hmm… I gained a level." Nick observed. "But I still only gained twenty experience. Guess I deserve it. I didn't do much."

"You don't even want to know ours." Maya, Cynthia, and Kasha were standing together. "Plus two hundred. Maya gained a level."

"No gain… that's not nice." Robert mumbled.

"What…" My eyes widened.

"PLUS _three levels?" _my entire group shouted. I smirked.

"Well, now I guess that I will be even better." I was now a level five.

Maya walked up to the chest, and opened it.

"Angel Wing." She held up the white sword. It was shaped like an angel wing. Hence the name.

"You know what," I had an idea. "Why don't we form our own guild? Who cares about the Empire?"

"Good idea." Nick said wryly. "After all of this to try and get Maya the Angel Wing so that she can _join_ the Empire."

"Oh yeah…" I did a face palm. "Duh."

"Actually, that's not a bad idea." He amended.

"And maybe if we get enough members, we can take down Caris's dad, and free Citadel." Zan said.

"So who's with me?" I asked.

"Me." Zan saluted me with his katana.

"Me too." Robert spoke up, similarly saluting with his heavy blade.

"Since Robert joined, I guess I have to. Someone needs to keep him out of trouble." Kasha smiled, lifting her guns to salute position.

"Ehh… I'll give it a try." Cynthia laughed, while tossing a grenade from hand to hand.

"Might as well." Chi lifted his staff.

"Fine." Nick sighed. "Guess that with this guild, level doesn't matter."

"No thanks."

"Come on, Maya!" we all yelled.

"Relax, I was joking." Maya sighed. Then she jumped on Nick's back. "Wherever Nicky-poo goes, I go!"

"Sigh." Nick sighed.

We all burst out laughing. Then we gated out, and returned to Citadel.


	7. Chapter 7

**-Revenge**

"Hey!" I yelled. It had been two weeks since I had formed my guild with my eight friends. We had a total of over twenty members.

"Where is everyone?" I wondered aloud.

"They're where you told them to be: Hidden Holy Graveyard." Cynthia was the only person in our secret hideout. We had discovered a group of ruins just outside of Citadel, and within the bounds of the root town. It was our base.

"I never said to go there!" I said.

"Well someone said that you did." She sighed.

This had happened twice before. I was thinking that we had a spy from my father in my little guild. However, I didn't know just who that could be. Our clan had been built on friendship, not around fighting ability or with intentions to build an army, so I knew everyone personally.

"Shoot." I gestured Cynthia to join my party. She complied, and we went in search of our lost members.

When we arrived at the correct field, I saw my men clustered in a circle. When I approached them, I heard battle music playing and the words BATTLE ON appeared on my screen. The level was a graveyard, and there were walking dead monsters here.

My men had formed several rings inside one another: Heavy Blades and Adept Rogues on the outside edge. Right behind them were Long Arms and Flick Reapers. Inside that ring was a smaller ring of Steam Gunners, engineers, and assassins. On the inside were our only Twinblade and Element Warrior, and our Wavemasters and other magic users. It was a useful strategy.

"Hey!" I yelled.

"Chris!" Zan yelled. "Look out!"

I spun, and sliced into a zombie. He fell down, but got back up.

"Well, men, looks like we have a workout!" I added my entire guild to my party, and started wrecking havoc with my demon half. Zombies were crawling out of graves everywhere. I whirled around the ring, moving in a circle outside its protection. I had risen to level fourteen, but still had a long way to go before I could challenge my father. However, I had a reputation to keep up. If my men saw me cowering for protection in the circle, I wouldn't be a leader.

After a while, the dead stopped coming back to life, and stayed dead. I ordered the group to take a breather. There weren't any enemies in the area.

Suddenly, there was a rustling sound. My men formed a defensive line. Health potions and healing spells were quickly administered, as well as magic boosting potions.

From behind the graves on our right came a strange specter. It was like a golem, but behind it hovered a little girl.

"Aura?" she asked.

"Who are you talking to? Me? Or them?" I asked her.

"Are you Aura?" she asked.

"Who is Aura?" I asked.

"Are you Aura?" She said again.

"I have no idea."

"You are not Aura." She said softly. "Skeith. Data Drain." The little girl disappeared.

The golem responded. It started walking slowly towards us. One of my men panicked, and charged at it. It merely slapped him away. My man landed on the ground. His health read 1.

_What? Another hacker?_ The man who had been Bug-Man had given up hacking, and had actually ended up joining my guild, although we still called him Bug-Man.

The golem lifted his staff. A shockwave rammed me and my men over. Suddenly, four of my men started flying. They stopped when they reached about twenty feet above us, and a red cross appeared behind them

"What the hell?" I yelled.

They started disintegrating into pieces of data. They were being swirled away into the center of the cross like water down a drain. The leg's went first, working its was up towards the head.

I had sixteen men left in the field. "Attack!" I screamed. We all charged it. Zan's blade slammed into it, but it only did 1 damage! The golem hurled us all back again, and seven men were lifted into the air, drained away like before. Now we only had the original members, and Bug-Man. All of the other members had been drained away.

_It's been less then twenty seconds, and eleven of my men have been destroyed! _I, Robert, Kasha, Zan, Maya, Nick, Cynthia, Bug-Man, and Chi were all that was left!

"Let's see you shrug off this!" Bug-Man yelled. He must have hacked something, because he reverted to his Bug-Man character with the health shield. He was the one that had been hurled back until he had only 1 health. He ran forwards, and slammed his mace forwards with all of his might. No character would have been able to block that strike, but that golem blocked it, and slammed the head of his mace into Bug-Man's head. His head collapsed inwards, and he lay on the ground, not faded away, but a dead body.

Chi darted forwards, trying to cast a spell. Instead, he was lifted into the air.

"NOOO!" Zan roared, as he ran the golem through again and again. It had no effect. We all watched in horror as Chi was drained away. _How can this be happening? No… this is a bad dream! This is a nightmare!_

I watched as my friends and I slowly lost to this golem. He hurled Robert back. Robert started to rise into the air, and drained away.

"You BASTARD!" I screamed. Zan was still stabbing furiously, but his katana wasn't even doing 1 damage anymore. My dirks were useless. I had run out of stamina and couldn't enter Demon form.

Then Nick rose into the air.

Maya screamed. She hurled herself at him.

"No! Not you Nick!" she screamed. Tears of rage and sorrow streamed down her face. The look of despair on her face was terrible. The red cross formed behind them. Maya's lips pressed into Nicks, and both of them faded away, drained into the red cross together, a symbol of love.

"YEAAARGH!" Kasha screamed unintelligibly.

"LOG OUT!" I ordered. Zan, Cynthia, and Kasha looked at me incredulously.

"Log out!" I yelled. "Its our only hope!" I watched as Cynthia logged out. I felt myself rise. Zan logged out. I could feel the red cross appearing behind me. I tried to access the menu, but it was to no avail.

Suddenly, in front of me was a girlish figure. She smiled at me.

"You cannot die yet." She whispered in my ear. She pressed something into my hand. I looked at it. It was a ring. I put it on. Then I noticed that I wasn't disappearing.

I merely floated in front of the red cross.

Kasha opened fire into the golem, but the golem merely grabbed her by the neck.

"Get out, Caris!" she yelled. "It's your only chance!" Trembling with rage, I forced myself to press the logout button on the menu. But not before I saw the golem slam Kasha's skull in with his staff. I screamed with helplessness, rage, and frustration. After a few seconds, I logged in again. At the base, Zan and Cynthia were waiting.

"What the hell was that?" Cynthia asked. I shook my head.

"I have no idea." Zan shrugged.

"We should have done something!" Cynthia yelled. "We can't just abandon our friends!"

"Cynthia's right, Caris." Zan said reproachfully. "We should have done something."

"SHUT UP!" I yelled. Zan and Cynthia were suddenly quiet. I immediately felt bad for yelling.

"Sorry, guys." I pressed the logout button. "I can't play here anymore."

Removing the headset in real life, I stood up from the console.

_Damn… _I really shouldn't have yelled… But that _thing…_ it was far too real. It hadn't been normal, watching my friends fall one by one, sucked down a red cross. That really pissed me off.

I walked to my living room. One thing that me and my friends had done was to share phone numbers. I now called up Robert.

Strange. He wasn't picking up. Maybe he was still playing, but somehow I doubted it. Feeling a creeping sense of dread, I got dressed, and walked to his house. Robert only lived a few blocks away.

I arrived at the door. I nearly fainted at what I saw.

Robert lay there on the floor, his gaming visor on the ground next to him. His eyes were closed.


	8. Chapter 8

**Mission**

"I called everyone I could." I shook my head. "Same thing. All in coma's. We're the only one's left."

There was a stunned silence. Cynthia, Zan, and I were alone in our ruins. Three out of twenty three.

"This will not go unpunished." Zan growled.

"It won't." I decreed. I was the leader.

With a few deft motions, I had opened up my inventory. I pressed a few keys.

"What?" Zan yelled. In an instant, his former steel katana was replaced by an overly long pure silver katana with snake patterns engraved on it. Cynthia's grenade launcher was replaced by a sleek black rocket launcher and a laser crossbow.

"I am only allowed to use special weapons." I said gruffly. "These are ones that I do not need. I have my dirks. They may not be the strongest weapon here, but they're what I know best. Plus I have my inner demon. These are other top-level weapons that I have no use for. You, Zan, have the Blade of the Seraphim. And you, Cynthia, have an XbC65 assault launcher and a SHOTA laser crossbow. I figured you would need them."

Zan grinned. "Where should we start looking?"

"RIGHT HERE!" a voice roared. I rolled to the side. A large scythe slammed into the ground next to me.

"What the hell?" I yelled. The man wielding the scythe dodged my counterattack and managed to trip me with the handle of his scythe.

"Who the hell are you?" Cynthia yelled.

"You're name is Caris Halfdemon, right?" the player wielding the scythe asked. I nodded in agreement.

"Then, I'm here to kill you." He grinned.

"At least let me know who's trying to kill me!" I yelled. "Let me guess: you work for my father."

"Hell no." The man twirled his scythe, blocking Zan's attack attempt, and sending his skidding backwards. Zan landed unharmed, and was about to charge back in. I slid behind a large pile of rubble. "I'm a PKKK'er."

"What the hell? A player Klu Klux Klan?" I asked.

"Simple: PK's are the Player Killers." The man swung his scythe. It's blade rotated so that it became a spear. He stabbed it quickly. It knocked Cynthia over while she was trying to reload, and then reverted to normal scythe mode. "PKK's are Player Killer Killers: the ones who kill the Player Killers." He tried another swing. "I am a PKKK: A Player Killer Killer Killer: I kill the PKK's. I hire out to whatever PK's want to hire me. And someone wants you dead, you PKK'er!"

"Nice." I was behind him. While he was distracted talking, I had lurked from my hiding spot to behind him. I entered Demon-State and wrapped my chain around his neck, noose-style. I gave it a yank. My chain, which was wrapped around a large pile, lifted him into the air on a noose. The man smirked, before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"Come on! I can't do that many times! It takes certain spells!" He appeared behind me!

Suddenly, a shot rang out. I saw a snatch of red dart behind a rock.

"I don't have time for this!" I yelled. Suddenly, the ring on my hand started glowing. The glow engulfed me and my two friends, and suddenly, we were somewhere else.


End file.
